Podcast recommendation: 9sense

I want to share with you one of my favorite podcasts, one I listen to regularly. It is called 9sense, and it is freakin’ awesome.

9sense is a podcast whose mission is “Defining the Greater Satanic Conversation.” What exactly does that mean? Well, fortunately, a recent episode from earlier this month gives a detailed explanation of that, in the words of none other than the highly entertaining Reverend Adam Campbell himself. Mr. Campbell is the host and creator of 9sense, (since 2011,) and a Reverend in the Church of Satan.

If you can’t listen to the episode yet, (and I do highly recommend you listen to it and other episodes) I’ll give my quick summary of the podcast’s purpose, which requires a bit of preface:

Satanism is an atheistic religion which extols the values of individualism, indulgence, and personal responsibility. It (and its representative body, the Church of Satan) was founded by a unique individual named Anton Szandor LaVey in 1966, and has grown tremendously over the past fifty years. The Church is a highly meritocratic organization, and adherents are held to high standards of personal conduct and achievement. Please look at the Church of Satan website (especially the FAQ section) and readThe Satanic Bibleif you want to learn more about this unique and fascinating religion.

Unfortunately, many individuals (and I use that term loosely!) after LaVey have tried to ride on his coat-tails and gain their fifteen minutes of fame and power by calling themselves “satanists”, with or without some sort of hyphen, and then doing what can best be described as “stupid shit.” These people often worship a literal imaginary creature they call Satan, commit crimes, perform stupid disruptive stunts in public, distribute books to school-children, (the Church of Satan is strongly against indoctrination of children,) and make big claims about their influence and abilities without showing anything to back up their words.

These pseudo-satanic groups frequently garner a lot of media attention. This brings about a serious risk of the general public, including the truly respectable but non-Satanist members of it, misunderstanding what Satanism and Satanists are actually about! The religion is diluted by such misuse of the term. So, 9sense is here to show to the world what real Satanists are actually doing and talking about, and how Satanism can be applied to contemporary topics.

When you listen to 9sense, you are getting in-depth discussions of various aspects of Satanism itself, (Lesser Magic, Greater Magic, the Rules of the Earth, etc,) and also discussions on current news, politics, art, music, parenting, movies, sex, and many other things, through a Satanic lens. There are a variety of segments by different contributors that rotate through the episodes of each month, as well as holiday specials and special guests from time to time. If you’d like to learn more about the other excellent people who contribute to 9sense, check out the “Segments” tab on the 9sense website.

In closing, this show is funny, sharp, thoughtful, heartfelt, and truly Satanic. I look forward to the new episodes every week, and it warms my diabolical heart to know that this Greater Satanic Conversation is being had the right way by the right people. Whether you’re a Satanist or not, I recommend checking 9sense out!